Altcoin Rotation Heats Up: Institutional Capital Favors Ethereum and XRP

The altcoin rotation is gaining momentum as institutional capital begins to take more risk in the crypto ecosystem. During the week ended August 21, U.S. crypto funds focused on assets beyond Bitcoin and Ethereum drew close to $90 million, with several major altcoins outperforming BTC.

Ethereum (ETH) appears to be the preferred institutional altcoin, drawing roughly $697 million in net inflows during the week ending August 21. Its assets jumped to around $14.3 billion, while weekly trading volumes reached $6.9 billion.

XRP has also seen significant institutional demand, with U.S. XRP investment products seeing roughly $40 million in inflows during the latest week, their best performance since May. Spot XRP ETFs have accumulated around $1.5 billion in inflows since their launch in late 2025.